Why digital broadcasting may hold the key to a healthy future for Test cricket
Mike Jakeman's love of Test cricket could not be clearer than is exemplified in the introduction to Saving The Test, in which he underlines his respect for the 20 and 50-over versions of the game but then lauds Michael Atherton's 185 not out against South Africa at Johannesburg in December 1995 as more or less the essence of why Test cricket should be viewed in a different, superior context. That contest, thanks to Atherton's 645-minute, 492-ball vigil, ended in a draw. While not watching, reading about, or generally enthusing over some aspect of cricket, Jakeman is a political and economic analyst attached to The Economist Intelligence Unit, specialising in Australia and Indonesia. It is a combination of interests that enables him to view cricket from a perspective that sets him apart from other commentators more directly involved in the game, one which allows him to bring knowledge but a degree of distance to his arguments. Jakeman, you suspect, is the kind of e